The Bean and Leaf
by FireflyLahey
Summary: It was serendipity that Isaac Lahey and Scott McCall should meet at that little coffee and specialty tea cafe once a year. Soon to happen always on the same year and same time, only to have the two "friends" find themselves hopelessly in love.
1. They met once

The first time they met was at The Bean and Leaf. It was on the same night that Isaac ran away from home, he'd been living on the streets for a few days now and had scraped up just enough money to buy something to eat. He entered the coffee shop and yanked his coat around himself.  
"Can I help you?" The barista asked; a preppy little blond thing with her hair pulled back in a high pony tail and daddy's-little-girl smile plastered on her face. The curly haired street kid looked at the change in his hand and frowned just a bit; he probably doesn't have enough for anything. He opened his mouth but another voice passed by him  
"Two poppy seed bagels, toasted, with cream cheese. Two coffees. One extra large and one medium-..." The source of the voice turning it's attention to him "-How do you take your coffee?" He asked and Isaac looked over to see a boy, that comes up to his nose, with tan skin and puppy-dog brown eyes. His jaw is slightly crooked and his smile is lopsided and, no matter how much Isaac tries to deny it, his eyes held a warmth that made Isaac want to smile too. It's to late, this stranger has already ordered the coffee and gotten the milk and sugar on the side. He held up the items he bought as if prompting Isaac to follow him.  
Isaac sat down at the table the stranger picks out and laid his pile of change on the he table.  
"Here...to pay for the-...it won't cover it all but take it." Isaac said, not meeting the boy's eyes. He could all but feel that lopsided smile grow wider.  
"I'm Scott McCall. What's your name?" The boy said instead, as Isaac stacks the change from bigger to smaller.  
"I-Isaac Lahey." He answered after a long while of silence. The lanky lacrosse player was deciding wether or not to eat the food provided; it's not like he isn't grateful he just isn't used to such blatant kindness and it's shocked him.  
"Well, Isaac, don't you want your bagel? Did I get you the wrong kind?"  
"N-no! No...I-it's fine. Th-thank you." He mumbles, still not letting his eyes meet Scott's.

They were there for way longer than they should have, till closing time actually and Isaac doesn't remember the last time he had smiled so much in one sitting. So they didn't reach his eyes, so he didn't exactly feel comfortable but this guy put him at ease. He was a little slow, a little dense but that didn't matter. He had a good heart and Isaac admired that, was even endeared by that.  
They parted ways with a firm handshake and mumbles "thank you"s and a whole lot of awkward coughs when the waitress told them, sternly, to get out. They stumbled out and said farewell and went on with their lives.

*~**~*  
The second time they met was at The Bean and Leaf, again, only difference was: Isaac was working there and had a nice flat to himself and Scott came in with a pretty girl on his arm and it was exactly one year later.  
"One poppy seed bagel with cream cheese, toasted, and a medium coffee." He said to Isaac's back and the curly-haired boy looked up and turned around with a sort of nostalgic smile. His smile faltered ever so slightly when he saw the girl on his arm and her flowing black hair and her honest smile and bright eyes.  
"Sugar and milk on the side?" Isaac asked and Scott's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he smiled brightly.  
"Isaac Lahey?" He asks and Isaac shivers at the way his name sounds so worth saying when Scott says it.  
"You remembered...?"  
"Dude! How could I forget-" "he talks about meeting you every time we walk by here or in here!" His girl interjects enthusiastically and Scott looks down at her like she's the sun and moon. Isaac can't help but agree, she's flawless from what he can tell and for some reason that makes his heart ache just a little bit.  
"H-how have you been?" Isaac asks and he curses how weak and small his voice though he is a, good, head taller than Scott he still feels small under his gaze. And when those brown eyes look up at him like pools of espresso, all bright and deep, his heart leaps into his throat from the force of the butterflies exploding in his gut.  
"I've been amazing but look at you! Wait, when do you get off work? We can catch up." Scott says, his mouth forming those words in that way that almost makes Isaac forget what was being said.  
"Uh, um, at three." He says noting that it's the same time they met the first time, at three, and he chastises himself for remembering so,etching so stupid. The shorter boy smiles and nods, taking his order and whisking his girl away, leaving Isaac behind I'm a sort of anxious daze.

They met up at three and Scott came alone. Isaac seated himself at, what he has come to call, their table with the same order form the first time.  
"You remembered!" Scott exclaimed, sitting down, and Isaac smiled bashfully. They spoke for hours, again, even past closing.


	2. They met twice

*~**~*  
A year passed and the two had done nothing but exchange a few emails, about once a month, and a few skype calls. Both of them where fairly busy with the new and exiting changes in their life.  
Isaac had moved on from his job at The Bean and Leaf and was volunteering at the hospital in the he children's ward, while working at the local animal shelter. According to the emails, Scott was in the middle of his first year of university, studying to be a veterinarian. They agreed that today they would meet back at that small coffee shop to see each other. Isaac's heart was near ready to explode because, even though he wasn't exactly saving himself, he still has those lingering feelings for the boy who bought him food when he couldn't afford it.

He didn't want it to seem obvious that he had spent over three hours getting ready for today, that he had changed clothes time and time again because nothing seemed right for the moment. Isaac hated that he felt to anxious and nervous just to see a friend, a friend he rarely got to see or talk to anyway. The tall boy showed up in jeans, beige work boots, a white shirt and a beige sweater left unbuttoned; he seated himself at the usual table and fidgeted with the lid of his coffee before a shadow blocked the light and he looked up, smiling, to a face smiling back at him. Without even thinking he stood up and wrapped his arms, and violently beating heart, around the boy as if not holding him would cause it all to fade away and Isaac would see that it's all just a dream.  
"Hey buddy." Scott chuckles into the other's shoulder and wrapped his mocha arms around Isaac.  
"Hey..." Isaac mumbles, his voice sounding odd to his ears, as he pulls back and gestures for Scott to take a seat.  
They spoke as if words were limitless, the conversation flowed like water and even when it stopped it was perfect. The two didn't even realize they were leaning into each other until a friend of Isaac's came up and the pair jumped apart, startled from their small world, so Isaac could introduce his friend to Scott. It wasn't long until they were well absorbed again and when Scott's knuckles, wrapped around his own coffee cup, brushed against Isaac's knuckles, which were holding onto his own drink, his heart hesitated with baited breath and jumped forward with a painful jerk. It was so boldly different from the last two times they met here, like every emotion Isaac felt towards this boy had become stronger with each passing day only to solidify when they met. Espresso pools met his icy blues and electricity sparked through the air, a tangible fog of something hung around them like an atmosphere of their own to which the left sides of their brain thrived on but the right was terribly afraid of.  
A small part of Isaac couldn't help but analyze, that small logical side of him that hadn't fled to the far reaches of his brain, the situation. It simply noted this:  
Falling in love is horrible. It's the worst kind of kink in one's armour. Falling in love is like a porcupine, or hedgehog, rolling over and exposing it's soft underside to the long canines of a vicious of a vicious predictor, armed with only the soft prayer from your hearth at they won't rip you apart. It leaves you vulnerable to almost every attack to at you had spent forever trying to guard yourself against, trying to learn to avoid. Love strips you down and leaves you there like a new born baby at the mercy of someone who could either nurture and love you or hurt and destroy you.

They didn't want it to end, even after the shop closed and the manager gave up on retrying to kick them out because these two always stay till well past closing. So the pair got up, bid the manager goodnight, and headed out into the street.  
"This way, my apartment is right over there." Isaac states and Scott follows. Their strides matched and the air chilled as the darkness darkened around them.  
"You should come visit my college, I can't always come here to see you." Scott teased  
"It was you who suggested meeting here."  
"I didn't know you lived so close! I thought it was, like, a half way type deal." His laugh was like every answer to every question that plagued Isaac and he allowed himself the luxury of really delving in it before it faded away.  
"You never asked." He quips smugly, smirking down at his companion, earning himself a laugh as a response.  
Isaac opened the door to his apartment like a proper gentleman and as soon as Scott stepped inside it felt so much more like home. He shucked off his jacket and traded the beige sweater in for just the white shirt before slumping in the chair. It was nothing fancy, the apartment; it was small and cramped with white walls and a futon for a bed and a small tv with books stacked up all around the perimeter of the walls. The bathroom was even smaller and Isaac had to shower with the door and curtain open or he'd have a panic attack. But it was home. He watched fondly as Scott flopped on the futon after having inspected the place.  
"Reminds me of my dorm-" he snorted "-but this is better."  
"How so?" Isaac was content to just sit there and talk some more, Scott seemed to feel the same.  
"It's just...better." He looks over at Isaac and smiles again, that sweet smile of his, before sitting up. He opens his mouth as if to say something but promptly shuts it again and Isaac imitated him but only because he wanted to ask what he wanted to say but something made his voice shrink away. That fog settled in, that electricity sparked again and Isaac's heart gave a squeeze. Who knows how long they stayed like that, staring at each other with words fighting to escape their lips but with nothing being said.  
"I need to go." Scott says swiftly and Isaac almost jumps up to stop him. Almost. He doesn't move for a while, even as Scott gets up and shrugs on his jacket. Isaac only gets up to walk him to the door. The boy closes the door behind his friend and presses his back against the cold wood, sliding down to sit on the floor and hate himself for being afraid and pathetic.

*~**~*

Isaac didn't sleep that night, a year didn't pass but it did feel like it did. He almost didn't pick up his phone when it rang.  
"Meet me there, now." Was all Scott voiced before hanging up and, as if automatically, he got up and left. He didn't put on a jacket or a sweater, just walked out into the cold in his t-shirt and jeans.  
...


	3. They met thrice

*~**~* Five years has passed since that day and every morning Isaac wakes up to sunshine and coffee coloured eyes. Even when it rains and the clouds cover the sky, when everyone is down with heavy hearts, Isaac looks at Scott and it's all sunshine and walking on air for him. They moved above The Bean and Leaf, taking it over when the previous owner wanted to sell out. They take turns making dinner and pair up when washing dinner. Monday is bath night, where they take a bath together with lots of bubbles and candles. Tuesday is Taco night because they both love Mexican food, that night isn't limited to just taco. It's an umbrella term. Wednesday is the night Isaac stays late at work. Thursday is movie night because Scott stays late at work on Fridays. Saturday and Sunday is left open because they always find something to do those days, or they spend the whole day in bed. They bought two dogs, a husky named Axle and an Australian shepherded named Beatrice. They take turns walking them but whenever they can, Scott and Isaac do their best to walk them together. A bigger bed was on its way as the two of the always let the dogs sleep with them. As domestic as it is, everyday is an adventure for the both of them. Everyday is something new and Isaac cherishes it. He hasn't spoken to his father since he ran away but has been openly accepted into Scott's. He and Melissa go out once a month just to bond and he loves it. "I love you." Isaac purrs, kissing the top of Scott's head which is laying right on his bare chest. His hand roams wherever he can touch on the tan skin of his partner. "I love you too." Scott whispers back, pressing a kiss to his chest. And it never fails to make his heart flutter and the butterflies in his stomach to go insane. 


End file.
